Building Marketing Automation into Your Plan

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Nurture programs and marketing automation don’t need to replace traditional marketing tactics. They should reinforce them and make them actionable for the customer and measurable for you. Big Data doesn’t replace gut instincts. Understanding Big Data and insights can be used for idea validation. It can turn a gut feeling into a company-wide game changer. You should feel empowered to take all this data and turn it into real, actionable communication.

When using Big Data to uncover insights, you develop strategies that can be tested on the fly. marketing automation allows you to test different messaging and calls to action at the same time with the same audience, helping us learn what works best faster. There’s not a marketer alive who wouldn’t like to increase efficiency and reduce waste (i.e., get more bang for the buck).

It happens to us on a daily basis. Big box insurance providers (Geico, Progressive, etc.) use Big Data and marketing automation to communicate every day. They use it for billing and informing customers about rate changes and policy updates. Government has started to use it, too. In New York State, the Comptroller’s office regularly uses marketing automation to interact with constituents (AKA customers) regularly. These organizations have taken the proper steps to protect themselves and their customers. Brands can, too. The most important thing we need to remember is to be thoughtful about how we use this information. But we must use it. When we enhance the customer experience and offer true dialogue, we increase our chances to sell more services and products. It’s that simple.

Marketing automation/nurturing can be the precise, powerful weapon that financial services marketers use to create more than incremental growth. We can force seismic shifts in our business model. Many marketers have already enjoyed unprecedented returns. Measurable ones, too. This data that is piling up and sitting around begging to be set free! Use it to create better content, to understand and manipulate trends instead of blindly following them. You’ve got the data. You have the framework for a plan, and know your goals. Make Big Data work for you.